Apology
by Neon25
Summary: Tension between the Torres brothers is high. Why? Bianca DeSousa, that's why. But perhaps a simple apology can change all that.
1. Chapter 1

Drew casually walked down the stairs trying to be inconspicuous. But he was nervous. Very nervous.

Adam didn't even notice Drew. He was sprawled out of his back on the couch watching a movie. Drew quietly walked up behind him and leaned onto the couch to let Adam know he was there. Adam didn't acknowledge his presence so Drew decided to speak up.

"So…" he trailed off.

Adam turned towards him. "So…" he mimicked.

There was an awkward silence between the two. Adam, noting Drew's nervous ticks raised his eyebrows and shrugged his shoulders. After all, Drew was the one to start communication; he was just fine sitting and watching his movie.

"Bianca's coming over," Drew blurted. Adam's face immediately went sour.

"Drew," he whined.

"Adam, she's my girlfriend!"

"But can't you guys find somewhere else to hand out?" Adam asked obviously annoyed already.

"Come on Adam. Mom and Dad are gone for the day; this could be my only chance to have her here," Drew argued.

Adam huffed. "Fine. But I'm not moving." Drew rolled his eyes. "What?" Adam asked.

"Can you at least try to be nice?" Drew pleaded. He was tired of having to defend his girlfriend in front of his brother.

Adam sat up quickly with an angered gleam in his eye. "Dude, your girlfriend is the one who ripped open my shirt and outed me to the whole school," Adam reminded Drew who crossed his arms.

"It was going to happen anyway!" Drew shouted. Adam stood fuming with rage. Drew began to regret getting into this argument but continued on. "Bianca did you a favor!"

Adam scoffed. "And what would that be? Getting thrown through a glass door isn't a favor Andrew! It's torture!"

"Bianca outed you early in the year! If she hadn't, you'd still be the weird new kid with some dark secret," Drew said calming down a bit. Both Torres brothers were red faced and red eyed with anger.

"Because being the transgendered freak is so much better!" Adam shot back sarcastically. "Your girlfriend threatened to kill me, Andrew! To literally kill me! And guess what? I believe her!"

"God dammit Adam! Could you be supportive of me and my choices for like two minutes?" Drew asked frustrated.

"I have! I supported you when Alli was playing hard to get. I didn't tell you how ridiculous you looked when you were trying to impress Fiona. You cried on _my_ shoulder when Alli left. It was me who was there for you after you screwed up the best relationship you'd ever had by hooking up with Bianca. I put up with all of that – not to mention the football drama and the grade drama and the home drama! I always support you Drew!" Adam yelled.

Drew was silent, at a loss for words. Before Drew could say something he might regret, the doorbell rang. Adam groaned knowing who it was and Drew's face lit up with excitement. He rushed towards the door as Adam plopped back onto the couch and continued his movie.

"Hey B," Drew greeted sweetly as he opened the front door to reveal a beautiful looking Bianca. He leaned in and they shared a chaste kiss before he motioned her in with his hand. She looked around the house and noticed Adam sitting on the couch. She smirked at the chance to hit him at home.

"Drew, baby? Could you tell that," Bianca turned her head towards Adam's direction, "_tranny_," she said loudly to be sure that Adam heard, "to leave?" Adam rolled his eyes, but Bianca couldn't see.

"He was just leaving actually," Drew said choosing to ignore Bianca's snide remark. Drew looked towards Adam but Adam didn't budge.

"Hell no," Adam responded. "This is my house. And I'm not leaving. That slut can leave," he nodded in Bianca's direction.

"Don't call her that," Drew warned but was overpowered by Bianca's voice.

"Listen freak," she said with venom in her voice, "I'm not going anywhere."

Adam held her intense gaze. "Neither am I." They began a stare down. Drew shifted uncomfortably, unsure whether to defend his brother or his girlfriend.

"What would it take for you two to just make up and be friends?" Drew complained; tired of the bad blood between the people he loved.

Drew turned to Bianca who looked towards Adam expectantly. He sighed. "I don't think that she, or her actions, deserve to be forgiven," he said honestly. Bianca rolled her eyes.

"Please, Adam," Drew pleaded. "For me?" Drew sent the puppy down look Adam's way.

"Fine," Adam relented. "All I want from her is an apology." Bianca scoffed at the idea. Drew sent her a warning look.

"What?" she feigned innocence. "I'm not apologizing for something I'm not sorry for."

"Please, Bianca," Drew pleaded mimicking his puppy dog look. "For me?"

"Ugh, fine," Bianca reluctantly agreed. She turned towards Adam. "I'm sorry." She flashed an obviously fake smile and turned back to Drew. "Happy?"

He smiled not even caring that the apology was phony. "Extremely," he nodded. "Now, since you two made up, I can leave the room to get us some snacks and drinks. Be right back," Drew said and left the room.

Bianca searched the room for a place to sit. Adam noticed and shuffled over on the couch to make room for her. She sat down without making eye contact or saying a word. The silence between the two was eerie. They both pretended to be watching the movie still playing but were secretly watching the other out of the corner of their eyes.

Adam shifted in his seat and Bianca's eyes narrowed. Then she caught a glimpse of his arm. There were oddly shaped scars running down his forearm. Bianca recognized the scars as evidence of self harm and spun to face the younger boy.

He turned to her confused as she scooted closer to him. He flinched when she reached out and grabbed his arm but relaxed when she didn't hurt him. Bianca rolled back Adam's sleeve and his body tensed at the now very visible burn marks. Bianca gasped and covered her mouth. Then her eyes moved from his scars to his eyes.

"Adam," she whispered with regret and remorse evident in her voice. Neither expected the following conversation to happen, but it did.


	2. Chapter 2

Bianca's mind flashed back to when she was younger and first saw her very own mother's bare arm lined with scars and cuts.

"_Mommy, what's wrong with your arm?" a small and innocent Bianca DeSousa asked her mother who was currently washing dishes. Her mother sighed._

"_Well sweetie, mommy cut herself when she was younger," her mother told her nonchalantly. Bianca was too small to understand self harm but still pressed the matter further in pure curiosity._

"_Why?" she asked peering over the counter and at her mother's arm which had been promptly submerged under soapy water after Bianca's initial question._

_Her mother stopped to look at her daughter. She sighed and pulled her hands out of the water. She dried off her arms and grabbed Bianca's hand. Mrs. DeSousa led her child to the table and sat her down. She took a seat beside the adorable little girl and smiled._

"_Grammy – my mommy – used to be very sad after my daddy died," her mother said. "She used to yell at me a lot and say it was my fault."_

"_But it wasn't mommy," Bianca interjected confused by the accusation._

"_I know sweetie," her mother smiled and tucked a lose curl behind Bianca's ear. "But Grammy was sad and so she blamed me. That made me sad. Very sad. So I…" her mother paused as she found the words to say. "I made myself happy but hurting myself. It was a very bad, and very stupid thing to do. I don't want you to ever do it. If you ever want to hurt yourself, you should come and talk to me or daddy about it, okay?" Bianca shook her head noting her mother's serious tone of voice. "Promise?" Her mother asked._

"_Promise," little Bianca said. She put out her pinky finger for a pinky promise and her mother took it smiling widely. "Pinky promise, mommy."_

Adam quickly pulled his arm away. "What?" he said irritably.

"Adam," Bianca repeated softly. "Why?"

He scoffed and unrolled his sleeve to cover his scars. "What do you care? You hate me. Remember?" he said failing to mask the obvious pain with anger. Bianca sighed at his words.

"I don't hate you," she tried to convince him. He only scoffed once one before turning away from her. "I don't," she repeated. "I…I actually used to think I was falling for you," Bianca shyly admitted. Instantly, Adam spun back to her with a puzzled expression on his face.

"What?" he asked shocked by her sudden confession.

"Before…before everything happened," she said slowly, "I thought you were the one." Adam's shocked expression stayed in place as he listened intently to her. "Why do you think I was such a bitch to you?" she asked defensively taking Adam aback.

"Well…um…I just assumed you hated me cuz of," he motioned to his body, "this."

"I guess that's part of it," she nodded. "When I ripped open your shirt, I panicked. I didn't want people to think I liked a girl – that I liked you! I was in such shock that I wasn't thinking straight and made some irrational decisions," she told him. There was a pause as the two processed what had just been said. "But you did too," Bianca stated after a brief silence.

Adam nodded. "Yeah, I guess I did."

"How long?" Bianca pointed to his arm. Adam looked down ashamed and embarrassed.

"A few years," he revealed.

Bianca nodded. "I…I didn't…I didn't cause it did I?" she asked nervously.

"Not entirely," Adam picked up his head to meet her eyes. "When you… I just can't handle the rejection. Not from you. Not from the world," he told her passionately. "Not from my mom," he mumbled but said loud enough for Bianca to hear.

"She doesn't support you?" Bianca questioned.

"I wish," Adam said sadly. "I think she'd rather me die than be Adam sometimes."

"That's not true," Bianca said with conviction in her voice. He snorted unbelievingly. Bianca shook her head. "Then how do you walk with your head held high all the time?" she asked softly wondering if she was stepping out of bounds with her question.

"Because I have no choice. I can't break down; not in front of anyone." His hands started to shake and his voice began to break. "If I break down, if I hang my head, then I lose. Then people like you take the chance to make me feel even worse about myself. And then I burn myself – another reminder of how you've beat me, you've all won," Adam said with sadness apparent in his blue eyes.

"Adam, I'm sorry. I never knew it was that bad," Bianca sincerely said.

"How could you?" Adam questioned angrily. He faced her again and looked into her remorseful eyes with intensity. "You never even bothered to try to get to know me after…" he trailed off.

Bianca nodded with understanding. "After I found out your secret, it crushed me. You may never believe me, but I don't hate you. I was a bitch to you in order to get over you," she told him.

"Cuz that makes so much sense," he said sarcastically. "I will never understand girls. Ever." Bianca laughed just as Drew entered the room.

"I'm back," Drew called in a sing-song voice. "What did I miss?"

"Nothing really," Bianca said without taking her eyes off Adam who just smiled in response.

"Okay?" Drew said skeptically but choosing to ignore the weird vibe he was getting. "Anyway, we're out of snacks so I was wondering if the Dot would be cool for lunch?" he asked Bianca.

"Sure, sounds good," she said getting up. Drew and Bianca made their way to the door. Drew flashed a smile his brother's way and nodded his head as a substitute to a proper goodbye before exiting the house. Just before Bianca closed the door behind her, she stopped and turned towards Adam. "Hey," she called.

Adam pulled his attention away from the TV to look at Bianca who was standing at the door about to leave.

"I'm sorry…for everything," Bianca said with sincerity and understanding ringing in her voice.

Adam smiled at her. "Me too."


End file.
